The present study was conducted to investigate the relationship between critical thinking, epistemological beliefs, and learning strategies with the academic performance of high school first-grade male and female students in Yazd. For this purpose, from among all first-grade students, as many as 250 students (130 females and 120 males) were selected by using multistage cluster sampling. The data needed were then collected through using California Critical Thinking Skills Test, Schommer's Epistemological Beliefs Questionnaire, Biggs’ Revised Two Factor Study Process Questionnaire. The findings indicated that there is a positive significant relationship between critical thinking and academic performance and achievement. Moreover, four factors of epistemological beliefs include knowledge structure, knowledge stability, learning ability, and learning speed; these four factors have a positive significant relationship with the students’ academic performance. The other variable of the present study is learning strategies including deep and surface strategies. The findings of the present study indicated that there is a positive significant relationship between deep learning strategy and academic achievement. However, no significant relationship was observed between surface learning strategy and academic performance. Furthermore, the findings obtained from the multiple regression analysis indicated that except for the surface learning strategy, all other predictor variables (i.e. critical thinking, structure, stability, ability, speed, and deep learning strategy) explained and predicted the academic performance. To sum up, it can be claimed that critical thinking, epistemological beliefs, and deep learning strategy affect the students’ academic progress and achievement.
The beet armyworm (BAW), Spodoptera exigua (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is a highly destructive pest of vegetables and field crops. Management of beet armyworm primarily relies on synthetic pesticides, which is threatening the beneficial community and environment. Most importantly, the BAW developed resistance to synthetic pesticides with making it difficult to manage. Therefore, alternative and environment-friendly pest management tactics are urgently required. The use of pesticidal plant extracts provides an effective way for a sustainable pest management program. To evaluate the use of pesticidal plant extracts against BAW, we selected six plant species (Lantana camara, Aloe vera, Azadirachta indica, Cymbopogon citratus, Nicotiana tabacum ,
... Show MoreObjective: Per-implantitis is one of the implant treatment complications. Dentists have failed to restore damaged periodontium by using conventional therapies. Tissue engineering (stem cells, scaffold and growth factors) aims to reconstruct natural tissues. The paper aimed to isolate both periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs) and bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMMSCs) and use them in a co-culture method to create three-layered cell sheets for reconstructing natural periodontal ligament (PDL) tissue. Materials and methods: BMMSCs were isolated from rabbit tibia and femur, and PDLSC culture was established from the lower right incisor. The cells were co-cultured to induce BMMSC differentiation into PDL cells. Cell morphology, stem cel
... Show MoreDespite their potential as a sustainable energy technology, the operation of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) in sub-freezing conditions remains a critical challenge due to the risk of ice formation and performance degradation. This study introduces a new passive thermal management technique using strategically arranged multi-layer phase change materials (PCMs) to address this challenge. A numerical model was developed to evaluate the thermal behavior across various PCM configurations, incorporating one, two, and three layers arranged both in parallel and series with distinct melting points ranging from 55 to 65 ◦C. The results show that multi-layer PCM configurations provide significant improvements over the single-layer base
... Show MoreBackground: Regeneration dentistry demonstrates significant challenges due to the complexity of different dental structures. This study aimed to investigate osteogenic differentiation of human pulp stem cells (hDPSCs) cultured on a 3D-printed poly lactic acid (PLA) scaffold coated with nano-hydroxyapatite (nHA) and naringin (NAR) as a model for a dental regenerative. Methods: PLA scaffolds were 3D printed into circular discs (10 × 1 mm) and coated with nHA, NAR, or both. Scaffolds were cultured with hDPTCs to identify cellular morphological changes and adhesion over incubation periods of 3, 7, and 21 days using SEM. Then, the osteogenic potential of PLA, PLA/nHA/NAR, or PLA scaffolds coated with MTA elutes (PLA/MTA scaffolds) were evaluate
... Show MoreThe behavior corrosion inhibition of aluminum alloy (Al6061) in acidic (0.1 M HCl) and saline (3.5% NaCl) solutions was investigated in the absence and the presence of expired diclofenac sodium drug (DSD) as a corrosion inhibitor. The influence of temperature and was studied using electrochemical techniques. In addition, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to study the surface morphology. The results showed that DSD acted as a powerful inhibitor in acidic solutions, while a moderate influence was observed with saline one. Maximum inhibition efficiency was 99.99 and 83.32% in acidic and saline solutions at 150 ppm of DSD, respectively. Corrosion current density that obtained using electrochemical technique was increased with temperat
... Show MoreGreen synthesis is depending on preparation of nano composited SiO2/V2O5 by using the modified sol-gel method depending on rice husk ash as a source for the extraction of silica gel and the product powder of nano composited SiO2/V2O5 characterization by many techniques such as X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and N2 adsorptions/desorption isotherms (BET). This study also includs the biological effectiveness of SiO2/V2O5 and its effect on inhibiting bacterial growth after the prepared nanomaterial was applied to wound dressings, which gave a promising result for its use as
... Show MoreThe aim of present study is to determine the optimum parameters of friction stir welding process and known the most important parameter along with percentage contribution of each parameter which effect on tensile strength and joint efficiency of FS welded joint of dissimilar aluminum alloys AA2024-T3 and AA7075-T73 of 3 mm thick plates by applied specific number of experiments using Taguchi method .AA2024 was placed on the advancing side and AA7075 on the retreating side. FSW was achieved under three different rotation speeds (898, 1200 and 1710) rpm, three different welding speeds (20, 45 and 69) mm\min , three different pin profiles (cylindrical, threaded cylindrical and cone) and tool tilt angle 2◦. Taguchi method w
... Show MoreHybrid architecture of ZnO nanorods/graphene oxide ZnO-NRs@GO synthesized by electrostatic self-assembly methods. The morphological, optical and luminescence characteristics of ZnO-NRs@GO and ZnO-NRs thin films have been described by FESEM, TEM, HRTEM, and AFM, which refers to graphene oxide have been coated ZnO-NRs with five layers. Here we synthesis ZnO-NRs@GO by simple, cheap and environmentally friendly method, which made it favorable for huge -scale preparation in many applications such as photocatalyst. ZnO-NRs@GO was applied as a photocatalyst Rodamin 6 G (R6G) dye from water using 532 nm diode laser-induced photocatalytic process. Overall degradation of R6G/ ZnO-NRs@GO was achieved after 90 minutes of laser irradiation while it ne
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